How Sedna is saving sea life

Ghost fishing nets are killing thousands of marine animals

Abandoned, lost, or otherwise discarded fishing gear also known as ‘ghost fishing gear’ is a major contributor to ocean pollution. Nearly 2% of all fishing gear ends up in the oceans annually, a new research study has found ⁽¹⁾. The numbers are absolutely astounding:

That is enough commercial fishing line to the moon and back and enough nets to cover Scotland. If all types of the lost line were tied together, it would be able to stretch around the Earth 18 times.

Recognising that fishing gear is designed to catch and kill marine life, it is inevitable that this results in millions of trapped and killed marine animals, such as sharks, rays, sea turtles, dolphins, whales, crustaceans, and sea birds. A single abandoned net is estimated to kill an average of 500,000 marine invertebrates (think crabs and shrimp), 1,700 fish and four seabirds.

⁽¹⁾ K. Richardson, B.D. Hardesty, J. Vince, C. Wilcox, “Global estimates of fishing gear lost to the ocean each year,” Science Advances. (2022)

Proud associate partner of Healthy Seas

Healthy Seas was founded in 2013 to tackle the ghost fishing phenomenon which is responsible for the needless death of marine animals. Through cleanups with volunteer divers and by working with stakeholders of the fishing sector toward marine litter prevention, they collect waste nets and ensure they become valuable resources.

By partnering with Healthy Seas, Sedna (Associated Weavers) actively contributes to the removal of ghost fishing nets through funding and has been doing so continuously since the launch of the brand in 2018. Together we strive towards a common goal: raising awareness about plastic pollution and the importance of clean and healthy seas!

Since its founding, Healthy Seas has collected 905 tonnes of waste nets and other marine litter and ensured they become a valuable resource for our Sedna carpets instead of ending up in a landfill or in the natural environment. In this way, we have prevented thousands of sea animals and birds from becoming trapped and killed.

The fishing nets collected by Healthy Seas, together with other nylon waste, then enter the ECONYL® Regeneration System in order to create the super soft ECONYL® yarn for our Sedna carpets.